After a long hiatus, I give you chapter nine. I appreciate you all for being patient with me and understanding that I just don't seem to have as much free time as I use to.

Road to Surda Part 1

I stood there watching as the Varden began to divide themselves up into several groups. Each group was led by a dwarf who would guide then down a predetermined set of tunnels. We would then meet at a spot to reorganize ourselves before making the final track towards the capital of Surda. Each of the groups was assigned a magician to assist with any sort of problems that may require the use of the arcane arts. Trianna, who is now the leader of Du Vrangr Gata, had done her best to make sure that each of the groups had an magician but sadly enough there were not enough magicians for each group to have so some them ended up having to pull double duty and had to make a return trip to pick up the next group. It was going to be slow and tedious work but it was the only way to make sure everyone was going to get there safely.

Spyro was not with me at the time because I had asked him before hand to go to the rendezvous spot and made sure there weren't any enemies around. I was still waiting for his mental reply and as the minutes dragged on I grew more and more agitated. It wasn't that I was worried about Spyro safety, but rather it was more with the fact that with the idea of adventuring and excitement so close at hand it was just making me feel more anticipate to about the future.

It was then that I heard the sound of hoof beats behind me. Normally I would've been able to sense them much earlier but with my concentration being so focused on maintaining the mental link me and Spyro shared it had distracting me from keeping my awareness in a full 360° radius. It was one the few Rider abilities I had yet to be able to fully master. I turned my head around and I saw that it was Nasuada sitting on her battle horse. I gave a small bow and said "is there something you need form me my lady?" She didn't meet my eyes at the moment but rather was looking around the area as if trying to find someone. After she did that for a few seconds, she returned her gaze back on to me and asked "where is your dragon Spyro?" I motioned my hand towards the tunnels that we will be using and replied "he's making sure that the rendezvous spot is secure." Nasuada nodded her head in satisfaction before asking "so why aren't you with him then?" I gave a small shrug before replying "he's a big boy and can take care of himself. Besides, I figured I might be more useful here helping everyone get everything that they need in preparation for the journey." "That's a sound idea…" She said before trailing off apparently lost in her thoughts. I was somewhat tempted to see what it was that was troubling her at the time but reframed from doing so in order to maintain her privacy. So instead I asked her "is everything all right?"

She gave a gasp of surprise before replying "I…I just can't seem to shake this bad feeling I got." I nodded my head in understanding before saying "same with me. It's like there's a predator out there watching us but I am unable to located it or even identify it." "So what you think we should do?" Nasuada asked me. I looked away from her for a moment and stared off into the distance as I tried to come up with a way to alleviate or at least reduce our worry about this expedition. It took a good few minutes before I looked back at her and said "if this feeling we have turns out to be a trap set for us, which I am about 90% sure it is, then I think the best solution might be to try outmaneuvering them."

"How do you suppose we do that?" She asked me and I couldn't resist the small smile was forming on my face which was born of the possibility of a bit of action today. I replied "the plan was to have groups that were mostly made up of civilians and noncombatants go through the tunnels first so they could be able to set up a rest area for the rest of the Varden come through. What I propose we do is send three or four groups consisting of nothing but our warriors over to the tunnel exit. That way if there is a trap and they decide to trigger it, they will be faced up against eighty or so men rather than a few guards and the noncombatants."

Nasuada nodded her head in agreement before saying "It will take some time to assemble enough men." I mentally slapped myself for not realizing that predicament and tried to figure out a way to overcome it. The answer came to me almost at an instant and I quickly asked her "How long will it take to gather five of your best men?"

Later in the day, near the rendezvous point

Despite the adrenaline that was flowing through my body, I tried to maintain the appearance of being calm and collected. I was doing so to try and keep the men that were serving under me at least somewhat relaxed through when I had a faint feeling that they would finally relaxed when the rest of the Varden forces had arrived.

The plan was simple in nature but also very dangerous. We were going to scout out the meeting spot and see if there are any signs of an ambush. Best case scenario, we find nothing and all my worries would have been for nothing. Worst case though is that we find ourselves ambushed in which case we have to hold out long enough for the rest of the Varden to get here.

The exit to the cave was in view and I was able to see that it opened to a clearing that traveled for a few meters before coming to a small forest. It was because of the clearing that gave Nasuada the reason for choosing this spot for the meeting point because it would be very hard for an army to mobilize without them knowing and from all accounts it appeared to be true.

But I still had my gut feeling that something did not appear to be right with this situation.

I turned to face the captain of the squad and said "Wait here, I'm going to check out the area. If I run into any trouble and should worse come to worse, I need you and your men to return to Nasuada and inform her that the meeting area is compromised and that she should instead go towards the secondary spot." I saw that he was a little confused by this but I had no time to wait for him to understand so I added in a more forceful voice "Do you understand captain?" My voice was loud enough to awaken the usual feeling of orders being yelled at them that every solider feels. It caused the captain to stand in attention and reply "Yes sir!" I nodded my head in satisfaction and started to make my way out into the clearing.

I started to slowly creped along the pathway, doing my best to limit the amount of noise that I was creating which might echo into the forest. I had managed to reach the cave entrance without any sort of response from the forest which wither meant that there was nobody there…or they were well trained enough to not make any kind of noise. I tried to brush that thought away as I was reminded that I was in fact in a world where the main types of weapons were swords, axes, shields and armor and all of them have a tendency to make some kind of noise no matter how quiet it was. Still, the strange feeling in my stomach did not go away.

I shook my head and said to myself "I must be nervous." "I thought you were never nervous?" Spyro suddenly replied in my head which almost caused me to drop the gun I was carrying, an M4A1 with Red Dot sight and Grenade Launcher attachment. I quickly said in an annoyed tone "Oh…and I suppose you are perfectly calm and content right now sitting there on your perch?" I sense Spyro pondering for a moment before replying "You know what…I am." I could also feel the small grin forming on his face. Trying to bite back the strain of rather angry thought, I asked "Does that mean you are in position now?" Spyro must have sense the time for joking was over because I felt his body stiffen up and he replied "I have managed to dig out an overlook with my Earth element on the mountain and I have a good sight over the meeting spot." He paused for a moment before saying "I still don't see or smell anything out of the ordinary though. Are you sure you have a bad feeling about this?"

I replied in an instant "Yeah man. I know it sounds strange but I can't help shaking the feeling that this is some kind of trap. Maybe I'm being too cautious." Spyro gave a small chuckle and replied "I don't you will ever be 'too cautious' Sora." I gave a small growl of anger and replied "Oh just go eat some fireweed or something." I took a deep breath before saying "Alright, I'm coming out of the cave now. Keep an eye on me and the tree line." I felt Spyro's acknowledgment and felt my hand almost subconsciously slipping down to flip off the safety of my rifle. I took another deep breath to calm myself down and moved my hand away from it.

"Easy Sora…" I said to myself "No need to get too tense now." I took one more breath before bringing my rifle up to my shoulder pointing it at the forest and started to make my way out of the cave. I felt my body tensing and relaxing with each breath of my lungs and I was even able to hear my own heartbeat. My eyes were constantly searching the forest line; looking for something, anything that didn't seem to belong. It was then that I noticed the lack of noise around. The forest sounded dead as I was unable to hear the birds chirping or the sound of insects buzzing around. It was as if the whole world was holding its breath waiting what was going to happen next.

It was a few minutes before my mind realized how far I had gotten from the cave. I looked around and saw that I was now about halfway between the cave entrance and the tree line and still nothing had ambush or attacked me. I felt my entire body relaxing and I said to Spyro "Well man…I guess there was…"

Sissssss Crack

Pain shot up in my arm and I let out a scream of agony. Acting only on reflexes alone, I created a wall of earth tall enough for me to crouch under. In my mind, I could feel Spyro recoiling from the pain that was felt through our mental connection and I could also feel the energy coming from him to me in an effort to prevent me from blacking out. My first thought was what just happened but all it took was one look at my left arm to see what had happened.

I could see the small hole left by the shot of a sniper rifle located almost right on my shoulder bones. A quick check on the back made me realize that the bullet had traveled clean through which to me was a lucky break. It was then that the worm of fear started to course through me as I tried to move my arm but was unable to feel anything. I knew I had to hurry before I lost my arm altogether.

Reaching with my right hand, I grabbed a high potion from one of my pockets and drank it. The effects were almost instant as I felt my heart beat slowing down and the hole in my arm getting a little bit smaller. I then reached for my field dressing and managed to cut out a strip of cloth that I used to wrap up my arm with. It was then that I felt the potion's effects wearing off and I had no choice but to use another one in order to keep the pain numbed until I was able to deal with the sniper. I shouldn't be too hard since I had an idea where he was at and…

"Sora!" Spyro yelled in my head. "What?" I replied in a rather heated voice that I really didn't mean to but given the circumstances I was sure Spyro understood. Spyro then replied "I can see two men exiting the forest." "Let me see." I replied almost at an instant. I wanted to know what I was dealing with. I felt my mind being tugged towards Spyro and it was not long before I was able to see what he was seeing. Spyro moved his head to look at the tree line and I saw the two men in clear day light.

The moment I saw them, I lost all feeling in my stomach and could feel a sense of dread and horror in my heart. Memories long since repressed were now servicing, I was able to hear the screams of the dying and the silence of the dead and the only thing I was thinking of was "Not them…oh please god not them."

Who or what could it be that could cause Sora to act this way. Will Sora be able to heal up his arm let alone survive this battle against these unknown warriors? Find out in the next chapter of Spyro and Sora's Cycle II. BTW, first chapter of the New Year so Happy 2012 and all that good stuff.

Read and Review Please

Richer1992